Mobile communication networks use a large array of network elements that have traffic visibility. These elements may impact the volume of content traffic sent/received to/from a user. The network elements generally operate independently of each other; thus, one element is unaware of information/handling of traffic that is known only to other network elements.
Each network element may send billing information separately to a billing office. Because each network element is unaware of what is happening with other network elements, this may create inconsistencies in billing, such as the billing reports may be incomplete or inaccurate from a charging perspective. For example, when a proprietary tunnel is set up, protocol awareness of the traffic is lost and the packets cannot be inspected to determine billing information from them. Thus charging for that flow cannot be determined by a downstream element. Also, because each network element includes a link to the billing office, large amounts of traffic may be sent to the billing office. As more network elements are added to the network, more links and bandwidth are used to send the billing information to the billing office, which results in inefficient use of these billing links (which may run over alternate, higher cost media to a central billing location).